So, a ski hill on a glacier?

[Corneliousrooster]

Let me get this right. I should not be able to buy a litre of milk without a gov't bureaucrat deciding whether it is right for society?

Not sure where or why you drug up this analogy, but no, that is not what I am saying. (Although that is currently how milk is sold...... -)

You are not worth arguing with as you have a great difficulty taking yourself out of the equation (being the world and all its ecosystems revolve around you). How you think urban sprall and development of natural areas is good for wildlife is absurd and not worth further discussion.

My mom lives in a remote community that has not grown in 40 years, and yet the number of bears around her house has gone up dramatically. Her nearest neighbour is 2 km away just like it was 40 years ago. Obviously she is encroaching on their territory!

So then perhaps your moms community is not the one further impacting..... but if you take a 500 km radius I would wager something in that tract expanded or impacted the natural area forcing animals further inward (which may in turn push other animals farther outward - perhaps into your mothers community).

Why is it so out to lunch to conceive that actions in point A can have negative effects in point B? The animals don't know the city limits and are not residents of any particular community, but they will go where survival dictates. Creating more developments, further dividing up the tracts of untouched natural areas give the animals fewer options of NOT entering inhabited areas. Humans then select the "pest" (be it deer, coyotes, wolves, bears etc etc.) for irradication, and then are surprised that 20 years down the road there is a new "pest"...... humans are not very adept at "conservation" or population control which has been proven time and time again.

[Homeownertoo]

Thanks for calling it a day and sparing me once again having to point out your inability to read what I write rather than what you had hoped I had written.

[Corneliousrooster]

Thanks for calling it a day and sparing me once again having to point out your inability to read what I write rather than what you had hoped I had written.

My sentiments exactly kettle black....

[Glacier]

So then perhaps your moms community is not the one further impacting..... but if you take a 500 km radius I would wager something in that tract expanded or impacted the natural area forcing animals further inward (which may in turn push other animals farther outward - perhaps into your mothers community).

My mom lives in the wild (several kilometers out of "town"), therefore, what she sees represents the animals that living in the wild - not the ones that are "forced into cities." There are more wolves and bears now than there have been in the past 4 decades. A lot more.

Yes, of course there are has been human development within 500km (Kelowna, Vancouver, and Prince George are all within 500km of her front door). Yes, of course human development can and does impact wildlife, but the fact remains, mild winters, little hunting, and millions of uninhabited acres has lead to an dramatic increase in wildlife - namely the predictor populations.

[Homeownertoo]

Don't forget logging. Cutting mature forests opens up large areas of new-growth in which wildlife thrives due to the plentiful food supply.

[SassySasquatch]

I believe forest fires do a better job at managing the Eco-systems than logging...

[5VP]

I logged, I mean "view enhanced" that area back in the nineties and hiked on Jumbo Glacier.

Awesome place...

[Captain Awesome]

According to news, it's a go.

[grammafreddy]

Of course. Did anyone expect anything else? It's "foreign investment money" and "good for us".

Never mind the minimum wage tourism industry "jobs" in an overpriced "new town" and never mind the glut of unsold overpriced condos already on the market.

How totally silly - forming a town where there are no residents. Guess that means the resort itself is a go somewhere down the line if the Liberals get in again. They had to change the municipal incorporation rulebook in order to do this and their first council is not an elected one - the government appointed them - hahaha.

The lynch mob is irate.

Jumbo Resort gets go-ahead
by Ragnar Haagen - Story: 83509
Nov 20, 2012 / 3:33 pm

The decision by the BC Liberals to incorporate Jumbo Mountain as a resort municipality is not sitting well with the NDP. The opposition says it's just the latest step by the government to force the resort onto Kootenay residents.

“I’ve not spoken to anyone outside the BC Liberal party who thinks that this legislation makes sense,” said Columbia River-Revelstoke MLA Norm Macdonald.

“To create a town where there are no residents, to appoint a council that may never face election, and do this with no real possibility that a resort will be built is ridiculous. But a small group of Jumbo supporters are getting their way on this one: transferring control of public lands into private hands.”

The announcement was made earlier today by Bill Bennett, Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development. He also revealed that the un-elected municipal council has been appointed to a two-year term.

“Every public opinion survey and public consultation process has shown strong opposition to this proposal, and Minister Bennett seems to be one of the few Kootenay residents in favour,” said Nelson-Creston MLA Michelle Mungall.

“People in the Kootenays have long been in favour of sustainable resource development, and the fact that they are so strongly against this project should speak volumes.

“The Liberal government refuses to listen. They are completely out of touch with the needs and wishes of residents of the Kootenays.”

In 2009, the Regional District of East Kootenay requested that the BC government incorporate Jumbo as a mountain resort municipality, and in May of this year the Local Government Act was amended to clarify provincial authority to incorporate a mountain resort municipality whether or not there are residents in the area at the time of incorporation.

A year-round ski resort is envisioned at the foot of Jumbo Mountain and Jumbo Glacier, located 55 km west of Invermere.

The $450-million resort is planned in three phases and will ultimately include 5,500 bed-units in a 104-hectare resort base area. It is projected to provide approximately 3,750 person years of construction employment and create 750 to 800 permanent full-time jobs.

[keith1612]

Of course. Did anyone expect anything else? It's "foreign investment money" and "good for us".

Never mind the minimum wage tourism industry "jobs" in an overpriced "new town" and never mind the glut of unsold overpriced condos already on the market.

How totally silly - forming a town where there are no residents. Guess that means the resort itself is a go somewhere down the line if the Liberals get in again. They had to change the municipal incorporation rulebook in order to do this and their first council is not an elected one - the government appointed them - hahaha.

The lynch mob is irate.

Jumbo Resort gets go-ahead
by Ragnar Haagen - Story: 83509
Nov 20, 2012 / 3:33 pm

The decision by the BC Liberals to incorporate Jumbo Mountain as a resort municipality is not sitting well with the NDP. The opposition says it's just the latest step by the government to force the resort onto Kootenay residents.

“I’ve not spoken to anyone outside the BC Liberal party who thinks that this legislation makes sense,” said Columbia River-Revelstoke MLA Norm Macdonald.

“To create a town where there are no residents, to appoint a council that may never face election, and do this with no real possibility that a resort will be built is ridiculous. But a small group of Jumbo supporters are getting their way on this one: transferring control of public lands into private hands.”

The announcement was made earlier today by Bill Bennett, Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development. He also revealed that the un-elected municipal council has been appointed to a two-year term.

“Every public opinion survey and public consultation process has shown strong opposition to this proposal, and Minister Bennett seems to be one of the few Kootenay residents in favour,” said Nelson-Creston MLA Michelle Mungall.

“People in the Kootenays have long been in favour of sustainable resource development, and the fact that they are so strongly against this project should speak volumes.

“The Liberal government refuses to listen. They are completely out of touch with the needs and wishes of residents of the Kootenays.”

In 2009, the Regional District of East Kootenay requested that the BC government incorporate Jumbo as a mountain resort municipality, and in May of this year the Local Government Act was amended to clarify provincial authority to incorporate a mountain resort municipality whether or not there are residents in the area at the time of incorporation.

A year-round ski resort is envisioned at the foot of Jumbo Mountain and Jumbo Glacier, located 55 km west of Invermere.

The $450-million resort is planned in three phases and will ultimately include 5,500 bed-units in a 104-hectare resort base area. It is projected to provide approximately 3,750 person years of construction employment and create 750 to 800 permanent full-time jobs.

no worries they can hire mexicans to work cheap and keep the elite happy while they play

[grammafreddy]

Here's a better article about it ...

Jumbo Glacier officially becomes resort municipality
Appointing mayor and council a 'slap in the face,' says Invermere mayor
CBC News
Posted: Nov 20, 2012 6:39 AM PT
Last Updated: Nov 20, 2012 11:57 AM PT



The controversial Jumbo Glacier Resort moved another step closer to reality with the establishment of a resort municipality for the site, but critics are already calling the move undemocratic.

B.C.'s Community Development Minister Bill Bennett formally announced the creation of the Mountain Resort Municipality of Jumbo Glacier and appointed former mayor of Radium Hot Springs Greg Deck as the community's first mayor.

Nancy Hugunin and Steve Ostrander were appointed to the new municipal council.

Opponents have already criticized the province's move to create a local government for a community with population base made up almost entirely of grizzly bears and mountain goats.

Even before the official announcement Invermere Mayor Gerry Taft went so far as to call the move "undemocratic."

"From my perspective this is a back-room deal, which is a slap in the face for democracy," said Taft Tuesday morning.

"It creates a community or town which has no people, and has an appointed council which is then able to pass land use decisions and zone land and increase the value of land without being accountable to any local population."

NDP MLA Norm MacDonald said the move is yet another in a string of bad decisions by the Liberal government to push through the controversial project.

"What the government has chosen to do as it so often does is to simply ignore the wisdom that sits in our communities and push through something that benefits a small number of people," said MacDonald.

Exhaustive public consultation on Jumbo

Plans have been on the books for decades for a Whistler-style ski resort and village with hotels, about 55 kilometres from the town of Invermere. The original concept was first endorsed by former NDP premier Mike Harcourt in the early 1990s.

But the project was thought to be all but dead after years of divisive debate, with many local residents, environmental groups, the B.C. NDP and at least one First Nation opposed to the project.


The Jumbo Glacier ski resort project in southeastern B.C. would sit on an old sawmill site, and visitors would be shuttled to ski and snowboard on four nearby glaciers in the Purcell mountains.The Jumbo Glacier ski resort project in southeastern B.C. would sit on an old sawmill site, and visitors would be shuttled to ski and snowboard on four nearby glaciers in the Purcell mountains. ((CBC))

Then in March, the provincial government announced it had approved the development plans.

Tuesday, Bennett said the project has gone through the most exhaustive public consultation in B.C. history.

The province says the project will attract $900 million in investment and create 750 permanent jobs. But financing for the project has still not been made clear.

Once complete, it will feature up to 23 lifts, a 3,000-metre-high gondola and a ski village with more than 6,000 units. The resort will be comparable in size to Silver Star in Vernon, B.C. — or about 1/10th the size of Whistler Blackcomb.
With files from the CBC's Stephen Smart

The comments after the article are interesting.

[Gilchy]

What is this sentiment that only "elites" ski? I don't understand it?

[Homeownertoo]

Great news. I look forward to riding my skis down its slopes and enjoying its restaurants and condos. A nice addition to the Kootenays amenities.

[grammafreddy]

Great news. I look forward to riding my skis down its slopes and enjoying its restaurants and condos. A nice addition to the Kootenays amenities.

You approve of the way its gone down so far?

The local are none too pleased.

[Captain Awesome]

The local are none too pleased.

When was the last time the locals were pleased about anything new?